Sberbank intends to collaborate with Chinese researchers on joint AI projects, First Deputy Chairman of the Board Alexander Vedyakhin told Reuters.

“Sberbank has many scientists. Through them, we plan to conduct joint scientific projects with researchers from China,” he said.

The top executive did not specify which institutions the bank plans to cooperate with.

Vedyakhin emphasized that China is Russia’s partner on many international issues, and the level of scientific cooperation between the two countries could be strengthened through joint efforts.

Currently, Russia ranks 31st out of 83 countries in AI adoption, innovation, and investment in the sector, according to British firm Tortoise Media. The country lags behind India and Brazil, among others.

Vedyakhin noted that after the launch of AI models by the Chinese startup DeepSeek, Sberbank compared them with its own most advanced neural network, GigaChat MAX. According to him, the Chinese AI outperforms the Russian one in scientific applications but is on par or even lags behind in banking-related tasks.

Sberbank aims to find cost-effective solutions rather than investing billions in large-scale infrastructure projects similar to Stargate.

“DeepSeek has proven that even with limited resources, quality comparable to American models can be achieved. This raises the question of whether extreme investments are necessary when engineering innovations are available,” Vedyakhin said.

He also emphasized that Sberbank has made most of its AI platforms publicly accessible, including its text-to-image model, Kandinsky.

“DeepSeek’s success is largely due to its transparency, which contrasts with the closed nature of OpenAI. This has attracted a huge community,” he added.

Earlier, Russia developed an AI-powered virtual assistant for psychologists, which doubles productivity, service quality, and revenue.

In December 2024, Russian developer Seamless introduced an AI tool for traders that prevents them from making trades during emotional distress.

That same month, scientists from Moscow University and the Russian Quantum Center tested the country’s first prototype of a 50-qubit quantum computer.